Process of blocking in gold and other metallic leaf.



TLHOOLEY.

PROCESS OF BLOCKING IN GOLD AND OTHER METALLIC LEAF.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1. 1912.

1,155,574. I Patented Oct. 5,1915.

2 SHEETSFSHEET I.

T. HOOLEY.

PROCESS OF BLOCKING IN GOLD AND OTHER METALLIC LEAF.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I. 1912.

1,155,574. Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH c0.. WASHINGTON, D. c.

THOMAS I'IOOLEY, 0F STOCKPORT, ENGLAND;

PROCESS OF BLOCKING IN GOLD AND OTHER METALLIC LEAF.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Patented Oct. 5, 1915.

Original application filed April 10, 1912, Serial No. 689,736. Divided and this application filed my 1, 1912.

Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS HOOLEY, a subject of the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Duke street, Stockport, in the county of Chester, England, have invented new and useful Improvements in Blocking in Gold and other Metallic Leaf, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to blocking in gold and other metallic leaf, and it has for its object to enable blocking of this class to be more satisfactorily effected in blocking presses'than has heretofore been possible.

To avoid unnecessary repetition the term gold leaf is herein used to include gold leaf, silver leaf and leaf of any other metal, wherever the context admits of such a mean ing being attributed to it.

Owing to the extreme delicacy and buoyancy of gold leaf, the blocking in this metal involves the exercise of'extreme care first in applying it to the die of a blocking press and secondly after it has been so applied in preventing it from being wafted off the die before it has been deposited on the surface to be blocked.

Presses have heretofore been proposed for mechanically blocking in gold leaf but none of them have proved satisfactory owing to the fact that the dies, after having. the gold leaf attached to their surfaces, have been moved in directions parallel with said surfaces so that the gold leaf has been wafted off the dies by the air currents to whichit was thereby subjected. I

In all blocking presses heretofore designed for use in blockingwith gold leaf, the dies, with the gold leaf attached thereto, have, after such'attachment, been moved in directions other than perpendicular to their blocking faces and have thereby subjected the said gold leaf to air. currents which have been causative of its detachment from the face of such dies. i j V The present invention differs from all former processes in respect of the fact that it involves no such movement of the dies as would expose the goldleaf to air currents that would tend to detach the said gold leaf from the dies, from the time that the gold leaf is attached to their surfaces tothe time that it is deposited on the articles to be blocked.

In carrying out the process according to my invention, I employ a press which, according to a patent application from which the present one has been divided, is provided with a movable tray or magazine for containing a book, or two or more superimposed books (hereinafter referred to as a pile), of gold leaf, these books having the usual interleaving paper sheets between adacent'metallic sheets. This tray is capable of being moved into and out of position beneath the die, and the process constituting the subject matter of the present application may be said to consist in first greasing the blocking surface (which is heated in any of the known ways), then bringing the top sheet of the-pile of gold leaf and the greased surface, lightly into contact either with the other so as to cause the former to adhere'to the latter, then moving the pile of gold leaf away from the die or the die, in a direction perpendicular to its own face, away from the said pile, so as to separate the leaf adhering to the die from the others in the pile, next removing the said pile from beneath the die and then forcing the previously prepared surface to be blocked, against the die or the die in a direction perpendicular to its own face against the said surface so that upon the subsequent separation of the die and that surface, the gold leaf will be left adhering to and impressed into the latter.

A press suitable for carrying out the process, the subject of the present invention, is shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an end elevation and Fig. 2 a side elevation of a well-known form of blocking press arranged for enabling the process to be carried out, and Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the die and the tray supporting the gold leaf, in its normal or inoperative position in full lines, andv in its working position in dotanddashv lines.

In the press illustrated in these drawings, the main structure comprises the two side frames 1, 2, united at their lower ends by tie bars 3, 4:, and at their upper ends by a bridge 5.

The frames 1, 2, are providedwith guides 6, 6, whereon is capable of sliding in a vertical direction, a bed 7 provided with horizontal tracks 8 whereon is capable of sliding in a horizontal direction, a table 9, the

latter being moved along the said tracks manually as by means of a handle 10. The bed 7 receives vertical niotio'ri iri one direction by cams 11 fast to a shaft 12, on one end of which is secured a hand lever 13, thearrangement being such that when this hand lever is in the vertical position in which it is shown in the drawings, the bed 7 and all the parts carried thereby, will be in their lowest position, and when the said hand lever 13 ismoved out of thispo sition, say, toward the left in Fig. 2, then the said bed and parts carried thereby, are raised by the ams' 1 1,the subsequent lowering of the said parts beihg effected by gravity when the hand lever 18 is returned to its: normal vertical position; The before mentioned bridge 5 carries beneath it, a bloek 14 adapted, in wl-l-imtw manner, tobe heated by gas or other means, to which is attached as ordinarily, the die 15' bearing the design to be blocked in gold leaf.

Attached to one side of the bed 7 is a bracket 16 adjustably held thereto by bolts, nuts and slots 17, the said" bracket being adapted to participate: in all ef the vertical mbveme'nts of the bed. The upper end of the bracket 16 terminates in an outwardlyelitending arm 18 to wliich-i'spiv'ote'd a plate or tray 19 capable of being swung from the positioh in which it" is shown in full lines the drawings (in which position the ascent of the bed will not bring the saidtray into conta't with the die 15), into the position in which it is represented in dot-'and-dash' lines, in which (see particularly Fig. 3) the asceiit of the bed will cause the tray or the pile of goldleaf thereon to be" brought into eontact with the face of the die. The tray 19' may be n'ioved from one to the other of. the two just-named positions by means of a handle 20, or other suitable device.

Thetray I9 is provided for the purpose of supporting a pile of gold leaf 21 (see particularly Figs; 2 and 3), the underside of this pile, if desired, being attached to the tray 19'by paste'or equivalent adhesive and retained inposition on thetray by gages 22. A book of gold leaf as generally supplied to'lthe' user, is' bound together at one edge, but, for thepilrpose' of this invention, that edge is cut oil and the cut edge ofthef book thns" preseiited, is preferably smeared over with adhesivecement such as paste or thin glile' so as to prevent the accidental detach: from the'book of morev than one leaf at a time. H l k At the end of the table a opposite to that atwhich the handle 10 is provided, there: is adjnstably carried a grease roller 23, this bein supp'orted in columns 2 1 vertically adjustable by screws 25 in two brackets 26' (only one of which is shown in the draw-f ing's) rigidly attahed' to the adjacent end of the table 9. The grease roller 23 is adjusted by the screws 25 into such position that durihb; its forward and backward horizontal motion along with the table 9, its periphery will riib under the surface of the die 15 so as toleave a thin deposit thereon of the grease carried by the said roller.

In carrying out the process according to the present invention, the operator first removes the uppermost sheet of the pile to expose a leaf of gold, and greases the heated die'15b'y traversing the grease roller 23beheath it as previously described; the table 9 and roller 23 being tliereafter left in their rearmost position, that is to say, the pbsiti'on in which'they are shown in Fig. 2. The operator then swihgs the tray 19 with the pile of gold leaf QI thereon, beneaththe die 15 and thereafter depresses thelever' 13 soas to raise the bed 7 and with it the tray 19, and by those means, bring the topmost leaf of gold into eoht'aet with the greased face of the said die. The leverls is then raised to its normal position allowing the tea 7 and tray 19 to descend by gravity and in so doing, withdraw the ile f gold-leaf 21 away fronithe die, leaving the topmost leaf of gold from this pile attached to the greased face of the die. V The'trayla with the pile of geld leaf thereon, is thenf swuhg freni" beheath' the die into the position in which it is shown in full lines in the draw rags; see particularly Fig. 3), and thereafter the table, with the case or material'to be blocked previously positioned thereon and too previously glaire'd or prepared for receiving the impression, is raised into forcible eohta'ct with the heated die 15 by means of the hand lever 13. Thelever 13 is then again returned to its normal Vertical position and the" table 9 witlr the blocked case or material thereon, is"a'llowed to descend, the table thereafter being moved along" the tracks 8 from beneath the die 15, for the removal therefrom of the blocked case or material and thee substi'tution therefor of the case or material to receive the next-impression which latter will be given by a repetition of the previously described series of operations.

In a power press, it may be convenient to have" the before; mentioned tray provided with a. s'prih'g-s'iipported floor which wil l oppose the pressure of the pile of gold leaf against the die with a pressure sufficient to cause the top leaf of the ride to a'd'heretothe' named manner ofoperation depending upon Whether the press is: one of the known type in which the work is moved to the die, as in the before described example, or one of another known type in Which the die is moved to the Work.

Having described my invention, I declare that What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The process of blocking in gold leaf consisting in greasing the face of a die, pressing a sheet of gold leaf on to the die, press- &

ing the surface of the article to be blocked against the face of the die, and maintaining the die stationary from the time gold leaf 15 is applied to it until that leaf is impressed on the article to be blocked.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

THOMAS HOOLEY.

Witnesses:

HENRY HART, WARWICK HENRY WILLIAMS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. 

